Video purportedly showing Donald Trump announcing visa ban for Nigerians is altered


Trump immigration ban protest at Miami airport
Protesters have their say against President Trump's executive orders on immigration during a rally at Miami International Airport on Sunday, January 29, 2017. (Miami Herald)

During President Donald Trump’s first term, he restricted immigrant visas for citizens of Nigeria and five other countries. 

But a Facebook video purporting to show Trump announcing a new policy restricting visas for Nigerians was altered.  

“I am announcing a temporary policy shift, one that aims to encourage Nigerians, especially those in critical professions to stay, invest and work in their homeland,” a voice that sounds like Trump says as footage of him speaking at a microphone plays in the video. “As part of this policy, the U.S. will limit certain visa approvals for Nigerian professionals, including doctors, nurses, engineers.”

“Donald Trump just announced that America will no longer give visas to Nigerians,” text in the video says. 

A Jan. 25 Facebook post sharing the video said, “Donald Trump is advising Nigerians and Africans to stay back to develope their countries as deportation of illegal migrant policy has effectively begin.”

It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

This video was altered. 

The audio doesn’t track with the movement of Trump’s mouth in the footage of him speaking, which comes from election night remarks he gave inNov. 6, 2024’s early morning.

Trump mentioned neither Nigeria, immigration nor visas during the speech. He did mention U.S. borders several times, saying “we’re going to fix our borders” and “we’re going to have to seal up those borders.”  

Though Trump’s early days in office have been marked by deportations and a flurry of executive orders curtailing immigration, we found no evidence that Trump has any policy like the one the Facebook video describes. 

We rate its claims False.

Truth-o-meter Ruling

False

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

  • This video was altered. President Donald Trump mentioned neither Nigerians nor visas during this speech, and no such policy has been announced.

Statement

Video shows “Donald Trump just announced that America will no longer give visas to Nigerians.”

Context

a Facebook post

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Viral image
Targets: Donald Trump

Statement Date

January 25, 2025
Our Sources

Facebook post, Jan. 25, 2025

YouTube, FULL SPEECH: Trump projected winner of 2024 presidential election, Nov. 6, 2024

Axios, Tracking Trump's executive orders: What he's signed so far, Jan. 28, 2025

Newsweek, Donald Trump's Victory Speech in Full: Transcript, Nov. 6, 2024

State Department, Nigeria, visited Jan. 31, 2025

NPR, Trump Administration To Curb Immigrants From 6 Nations, Including Nigeria, Jan. 31, 2020

 

Translations

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